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The Opening of Exhibitions in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building

1999

On display is the art of the Empire Style and works by the group of French artists called the Nabis.

The General Staff Building

The General Staff building, which is one of the most famous architectural landmarks of St Petersburg, was designed by Carlo Rossi and built during the years 1820-1827. Prior to the February 1917 Revolution, it housed top state institutions of the Russian Empire. The civilian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Finances occupied the Eastern Wing.

The state rooms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the offices and personal quarters of the minister and his spouse were decorated according to the drawings prepared by Carlo Rossi. The first occupant of these apartments was Count Karl Nesselrode (1780-1862), who held the post of Vice Chancellor beginning in 1828, and then from 1845 to 1856 was Chancellor of the Russian Empire. Both Prince Alexander Gorchakov (1798-1883), who assumed the position of Chancellor in 1856, and his successors kept the original architectural and artistic decoration of the rooms in the ministry they ran.

In 1993 the Eastern Wing of the building was given to the State Hermitage. The museum opened new exhibition rooms in these premises in 1999.

The permanent exhibition entitled "French Art of the 20th-Century. Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis" is located in the rooms of the former Ministry of Finances and displays works by the group of French painters called the Nabis: Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Felix Vallotton. One should note that due to the large size of the decorative painted ensembles of Maurice Denis (The Story of Psyche) and Pierre Bonnard (Triptych: The Mediterranean. ) their works were previously not included in the permanent exhibition of late 19th – early 20th century French art and were only rarely shown in temporary exhibitions.

Maurice Denis received the commission to paint The Story of Psyche from the well-known Russian collector Ivan Morozov in 1907. The painting was intended to decorate the concert hall of his mansion on the Prechistenka in Moscow. In the work Denis showed several episodes from the tale as described in Apuleius’ book Metamorphoses, or the Golden Donkey. Pierre Bonnard made the triptych The Mediterranean for the staircase of the very same mansion in 1911.

The exhibition entitled "Realms of the Eagle. The Art of Empire" was devoted to the artistic style prevailing during the era of the Napoleonic Wars – the so-called Empire Style in France, or Alexandrine Classicism in Russia. The exhibition was housed in 10 rooms of the former apartment of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Count Nesselrode and displayed more than 600 paintings and graphic pieces as well as works of decorative and applied art including furniture, bronzes, porcelain and cermonial uniforms.

In the future there are plans to open new permanent museum exhibitions in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building. Restoration and reconstruction of the Eastern Wing and of the Arch of the General Staff building are among the most important elements in the development programme for the Great Hermitage.